


Casual Touch

by honorbound



Category: Pod Save America (RPF)
Genre: F/F, First Meetings, Genderswap
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-22
Updated: 2017-11-22
Packaged: 2019-02-05 09:11:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,853
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12791382
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/honorbound/pseuds/honorbound
Summary: Prompt: Lesbian!lovett is known for being a Funny Lesbian (thx to the nyc stand-up community? a popular podcast? idk). [lady!tommy] works in politics and kissed her bff a lot in high school but hasn't kissed a girl since...until Lovett]





	Casual Touch

**Author's Note:**

  * For [xoxodumpsterfire](https://archiveofourown.org/users/xoxodumpsterfire/gifts).



Tommy gets to the restaurant early - Lovett picked it because it’s close to Tommy’s hotel and it’s called Cock and Bull, which Tommy assumes is either meant to be a joke or is part of a bit. That’s the thing about comics, you can never know if you’re participating in a bit with them or if you’re providing them material for constructing a future bit. Maybe Lovett will tweet about this later and Tommy can retweet it and feel secretly superior to Lovett’s 15,000 other followers.

Tommy is seated at a table upstairs in the back and alternates between jiggling her knee nervously and refreshing their DM thread to see if there’s anything new. There’s not, just like the last five times she checked. It's just Tommy asking Lovett if she wanted to meet up for drinks while Tommy was in town and Lovett agreeing. Tommy’s wearing her nicer pair of canvas tennis shoes and her favorite navy pullover sweater. When she got back to the hotel after meeting with the client, she had rifled through her entire suitcase, trying things on and taking them off again. She finally settled on wearing dark jeans because she wasn’t sure how fancy to get and then she put in earrings, pulled her hair back from her face and took them out again. Tommy hasn’t let herself do more than assume this is just dinner between friendly internet acquaintances, and there’s no need to act otherwise.

Tommy can’t lie to herself, she’s definitely nervous. She’s been nervous since she landed in New York yesterday morning, which is -  well, it’s stupid and weird. They barely know each other, they’ve never met in person, and just because Tommy’s done a few advanced searches on Lovett’s twitter feed and knows her thoughts on Rent (not a good musical), Frasier (“You want surprises? Check out the third act of literally any episode of Frasier”), Chipotle (consistent guacamole) and table-top board games (thrilling), she’s not going to let herself construct some sort of idealized person around it.

She’s got to get ahold of herself. She’s going to fucking get ahold of herself. Tommy’s still sitting there, hand covering her phone and leg shaking back and forth wildly when she hears her name.

“Hey! Tommy?” Lovett swoops in, her hair a dark wild tangle around her face. “Sorry I’m late, I had a thing for this showcase coming up and it was a fucking nightmare. I’m glad they went ahead and seated you and didn’t make you wait. That’s good, I don’t feel like such a monster.”

It’s cold outside. Tommy’d walked all the way to the restaurant with her hands shoved in her pockets, and Lovett’s still giving off the bitter air, her cheeks are wind-bitten and red.

Tommy’s standing now, although she’s not sure when she got up out of her chair. Is it too much if she hugs Lovett hello? Should she hug her? That’s weird, she won’t hug her, and she should quit fucking staring while she’s at it and say something.

Lovett is impossibly tiny in person. There’s something magnetic about her- she’s so small but solid, energetic and slightly manic, so smart, so sharp. Tommy feels like she’d prick her finger and draw blood if she reached out to touch her.

“Hi Jon - Lovett? Jon?” Great, what the fuck is she saying? Lovett’s shouldering out of her jacket, giving Tommy a view of her outfit: a faded t-shirt and high-waisted jeans, which, wow. Tommy’s relieved she took her earrings out earlier. She doesn’t want to look like a stuffy try-hard.

“That’s my name!” Lovett grins, delighted, and looks up. “Do you need my middle name, Tommy? It’s Ira. In case you wanted it to complete your National Security dossier.”

“Ah, no, maybe later,” Tommy says, wishing desperately that her brain would get back online and redeem itself with something, anything resembling humor. Lovett throws her scarf over the back of her chair and flops down. Tommy follows her lead and sits back down to look at the cocktail menu, willing her heart to quit pounding.

Lovett’s lips are chapped, and Tommy absently notices that she bites them a lot while they’re talking. She’ll catch her bottom lip in her teeth while she thinks, she licks her lips and drags her bottom teeth down her top lip in a way that makes Tommy feel crazy, makes her want to put her own mouth there and see if Lovett would still bite down.

Over dinner Tommy feels herself relaxing. Having all of Lovett’s attention fastened on her is thrilling -  it makes Tommy want to be worthy of it. They swap stories and Tommy tells Lovett about grabbing drinks the night before with her Fenway client, how she’d been dragged to a tiki bar over on East 14th and accidentally gotten blitzed on just two mai tais.

“This morning was a vivid reminder that I’m not 21 anymore and I can no longer touch any drink that comes lit on fire or is served in a pineapple.”

“Oh shit,” Lovett giggles. “I should flag the waiter down, I ordered you a huge fishbowl of rum-spiked hawaiian punch when you were in the bathroom.”

“As long as it’s not flaming when it gets here.”

“No, that’s just me,” Lovett’s face is deadpan and Tommy barks out a laugh. “So I didn’t know I was dealing with an old lady with old lady resolutions; is there anything else you can’t do? Will you need some warm milk before bed later?”

“Okay, _that’s_ offensive. I wind down with a relaxing crossword before bed, not dairy.” Tommy’s trying to stay equally stern-faced, but she can’t keep herself from smiling.

“Wait, a crossword, no, that’s too embarrassing for you.” Lovett’s snorting and Tommy starts, then puts out a hand and places it without thinking on Lovett’s arm. Lovett stills under her touch and Tommy pulls back. She’s not really sure of their dynamic, of what Lovett thinks about her. Is it okay to touch Lovett like this? Tommy puts her hands back in her lap covers her confusion by folding her napkin neatly into thirds.

The waiter comes by with their check, and Lovett bends down to grab her wallet out of her coat pocket.

“Oh, no,” Tommy says. “I’ve got it. I asked you to meet me, and I’ll just end up putting it on the Fenway expense account since I’d be eating out anyway.”

Lovett looks like she’s about to protest but then decides against it. “Fine. But this is decidedly not a business dinner and if you try any consultant-speak on me, I’m going to leave you right here at this restaurant.”

“Noted. I do just want to say though, that your twitter account is great—”

“Thank you.”

“—And clearly doing well, maybe you should think about pivoting to video?”

Lovett mock screams and the couple sitting at the table next to them glares at her.

“Well. Now you _are_ paying for my dinner because you owe me at least $30 in mental anguish dues for subjecting me to that advice.”

Tommy grins. “Great.” She looks conspicuously at the bill total. “This dinner was worth at least $80 in mental anguish monies, so looks you’re coming out on top.”

“We’ll see,” Lovett says, and grabs her coat. “Let’s get out of here. I know another decently good bar that’s close and all they serve are fishbowls.”

Tommy holds the door open for Lovett as they exit to the street. They fall into step, Lovett talking the entire time about her personal scale used to judge restaurants within a two block radius of Grand Central. Tommy is happy just to listen and nod while they walk. Lovett bumps into Tommy a few times, distracted by her monologue, and Tommy puts a steadying hand on her back. They reach the corner and Lovett, who is now turning back to look at Tommy, steps off the curb right as the light turns green.

It’s more reflex than anything, Lovett’s not in any danger, at least not yet, but Tommy hauls her back up onto the curb anyway. Lovett lands ungracefully against Tommy’s chest and stays there, a little stunned. This is new, having at least 5 inches on someone, feeling like she could cage Lovett in with just her body, like she could pick her up, move her around however she wanted.  

Tommy finds herself bending down slowly, a little scared to name what she’s doing, but still coming close to Lovett’s upturned face inch by inch. She’s giving Lovett time to pull away, to put up a hand and hold her back with a sharp observation. Lovett doesn’t do that. Instead, she sways closer and then Tommy’s kissing her, covering her sharp mouth with her own. Lovett’s warm and responsive, and Tommy’s missed this. She’s missed the feel of soft skin under her lips, the sweet corner of the mouth kisses. Mostly she’s missed being the girl that looked at what she wanted and took it, fearless and brave.

Lovett pulls back after a moment. “Have you done this before?”

“Done what?”  Tommy asks, still a little breathless.

“Kissed a girl.”

Ah. “Yes,” she replies honestly.

“What, like some slumber party dare or something?” It’s incredible, Tommy can see Lovett prickling up defensively, looking up at Tommy like she’s asking several questions under this one.

“Yes but it's not like that. For me, at least.” Tommy never talks about it, doesn’t really know how to, but in high school she and her best friend used to kiss each other. It did start as a party dare and then it became something else. Something they did and didn’t talk about, until Lindsey got a boyfriend and stopped treating Tommy like she was both her best friend and her girlfriend. More importantly, although she doesn’t say this to Jon, she hasn’t kissed anyone in an embarrassingly long time. Anyone. She just hasn’t felt like it.

So she pushes back a little at Lovett, catches her eye and keeps it. “Isn’t kissing kissing?”

“Look, I don’t know. As a gold star lesbian, I’ve never kissed a man so I don’t know how terrible it probably is. But I’m honored to be your first big gay kiss in at least ten years.”

“It’s fifteen and will you shut up?” Tommy mumbles before leaning back down.

“Mm?” Lovett says against her mouth, and Tommy decides to just kiss her quiet again instead of explaining. She feels sort of shivery with anticipation. Tommy’s missed being the sort of girl that plunged into love like nothing could ever turn out to be a mistake. So maybe it’s that, or maybe it’s the way Lovett’s been looking at her all night, a challenge in her dark eyes. Tommy wants to be worthy of it, wants to always be near this small, funny, dark-haired razor of a woman. So when she presses her forehead against Lovett’s under the dark cover of night and says “D’you wanna to come back to my room and skip the bar?” it’s that girl who asks.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to Bri and Jenna for reading this over for me!


End file.
